Sugared Cranberry Mini Tarts ⋆ Design Mom

Cranberries! I’ve been craving them. I love the tart flavor. They’re gorgeous to look at. But outside of cranberry sauce on Thanksgiving, and maybe a handful of Craisins when we make granola, I never use them in recipes. I mean never. I buy them to put in vases for flower arrangements, but I don’t have a single recipe that calls for cranberries. So if you’re like me, you might love this cranberry-focused recipe that’s perfect for holiday entertaining.

Look how cute these mini-tarts are?! I love that the sugared cranberries look like they have a coating of frost. So cute!

Sugared Cranberry Mini Tarts

(yields 24 mini tarts)

Ingredients

Sugared Cranberries:
12 ounce bag fresh cranberries
1 cup water
1 cup white sugar
1 ½ additional cups white sugar

Crust:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 sticks (¾ cup or 6 ounces) unsalted butter, softened and sliced

Filling:
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Sugared Cranberries:
1. Pick through cranberries and discard any that are soft or misshapen. Place the keepers in a large bowl.
2. Heat 1 cup water and 1 cup sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir for 2-3 minutes until sugar has dissolved.
3. Remove from heat and allow to cool until warm (not hot!). Pour the simple syrup over the cranberries.
4. Allow cranberries to cool completely (easily done with an hour in the fridge or on a snowy porch with the bowl covered).
5. Once cool, remove cranberries with a slotted spoon and place on a wire rack. Be sure to place foil underneath to catch the drips. Allow to dry for 1 hour.
6. Then, roll a few cranberries at a time in the remaining sugar. You might need to gently press the sugar on to the cranberries to get it to adhere. (This was a little tedious — turn on a podcast and get your sugar on :).
7. Once they are sugared, place cranberries in an air-tight covered container in the fridge.

Crust:
1. Combine the powdered sugar, flour, and butter in a food processor. Pulse until the dough forms a ball.
2. Place a scoop of dough into each mini muffin cavity and press down in the center with your thumbs to form a mini pie shell. (I used a 2 tablespoon cookie scoop for this step.)
3. Press each crust edge a few times with the tines of a fork and bake for 8-10 minutes until just slightly golden brown on the edges.
4. The bottoms will rise (forming more of a cookie than a crust, so as soon as they come out of the oven use the back of a spoon to press down the center of the tart so there will be room for the filling. Allow to cool completely.
5. Once cool, carefully loosen the edge of each crust with a spoon and gently lift out once loosened. They’re a little fragile; the edges might break a little, just go slowly!

Filling:
Beat the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla with an electric mixer until no lumps remain.

Assemble:
Place cream cheese into a ziploc bag. Cut off one corner of the bag and use it to pipe the filling into the cooled crusts. Place one sugared cranberry on the top of each tart.

Notes:
– The cranberries take a while – about 2.5 hours total, though most of it is hands-off time. I’d suggest making the sugared cranberries ahead of time, even days before.
– You will have far more cranberries than you need for the tarts. These keep well and make a great holiday table snack or cheese plate addition.
– Store tarts in the refrigerator, removing about 15 minutes before serving. These were good to eat the next day (store in refrigerator overnight), but their texture wasn’t great much beyond that.

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I’d love to hear your take on cranberries? Do you like the taste? Do you ever buy them fresh? Or has your relationship with cranberries been largely focused on the juice (and perhaps it’s magical abilities to heal a uti)? Do you have any favorite recipes that feature cranberries?

Credits: Images, styling & recipe by Liz Berget for Design Mom.